An Unusual Valentine's Day
by AmaranthPrincess21
Summary: It's Valentine's Day and Adrien just wants to give Marinette chocolates and confess his love for her. There's only one problem: she's in love with Félix.


Adrien knew he was popular. His fan base was fairly large for just being a model. Every Valentine's Day he got loads of cards and presents from several people hoping to win his heart. Of course, he always wrote back and thanked them for taking the time to write him and danced around rejected them. But despite of the people fawning over him, his heart belonged to one girl and one girl alone: Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

She was genuinely kind and sweet, but not afraid to speak her mind and stick up for herself or her friends. And God help whoever got the receiving end of her sassy retorts. He knew he was in deep. Every selfie they had ever taken was hanging on his wall alongside trophies and his computer monitors, with his favorite hanging on the ramp next to his bed so she'd be the first thing he saw in the morning. He wanted to make her his, and Valentine's Day was the perfect day to do that, but there was only one problem.

Marinette liked someone else.

What did Félix D'Aulnais have that Adrien didn't? They both came from wealthy families. They were both successful, Adrien with his modelling and Félix with his ballet. What did Marinette even see in him? Sure, he was talented, Adrien would give him that. But he was a pompous, stuck-up jerk who showed absolutely no interest in Marinette. In fact, he seemed to go out of his way to avoid her. The only time Adrien had seen Félix be even remotely nice to her was when he needed something from her.

Adrien had done his best to protect her, going as far as claiming the seat next to Félix in class so Marinette couldn't sit there, but somehow those two always managed to find some way to interact. It was just his luck that his best wasn't enough. It was like the world, or at least Marinette and Félix, were conspiring against him.

If Adrien had his way, this Valentine's Day would happen one way and one way only. Marinette would see that Félix wasn't worth her time. Adrien, planning ahead, would bring her a huge box of chocolates to school and pack a special lunch for the two of him. After school, he'd go to her apartment unexpectedly, bringing a huge bouquet of red roses and an outfit for her to wear to dinner at a small but cozy and romantic café. They'd go for a walk along the Seine and kiss under the bright lights of the city and it'd be so romantic and wonderful.

But that wasn't going to happen. Well, he had bought her the chocolate, but clearly, Marinette was still desperate to get Félix's attention. From their seats behind her, he caught her glancing back at Félix every few minutes, an anxious look on her face. Adrien was losing confidence by the minute. What if she turned down his present? What if she freaked out?

He didn't find the courage to give her the chocolate before lunch and once their final class of the day concluded, Félix hurriedly packed his things and took off, Marinette trailing right behind him. _So much for giving her chocolates,_ Adrien thought dejectedly. _I really messed up._

"You live so close to her! You could just go over to her house and give her the chocolate," Plagg pointed out as they entered Adrien's bedroom.

"I can't go over unannounced. And she might think it's weird. I mean, some guy going to her house to give her presents," Adrien sighed.

"You're not just 'some guy.' You're her friend," Plagg said with a short sigh. "You humans are so ridiculous. Do whatever you want."

Maybe he could just give them to her tomorrow. Sure, it wasn't that romantic, but whether as a friend or girlfriend he wanted her to have the chocolates. After all, he'd saved up all his earnings for a month in order to buy it for her. He was growing restless and bored in his room. Maybe a run would clear his mind. He changed into workout clothes and grabbed his phone and some earbuds.

"Nathalie, I'm going out for a run," he called into her office before leaving. Turning on his running playlist (which was just "Psychic Fire" on repeat for an hour), he started running out of the Agreste property and onto the streets of Paris. It was a beautiful day. It wasn't too hot and the breeze was just cool enough to keep him from overheating as he rounded the block and headed down to the walkway by the Seine.

The river flowed calmly by the walkway. The area was deserted save for one person sitting on a bench by herself. His music was too loud to hear Marinette, but he could clearly see her crying. His instincts took over, ripping his earbuds and sprinting over to her. She was hurt and he needed to help her.

"Marinette, what's wrong?" he asked gently, sitting beside her. She sniffed and wiped away the trail of tears on her face. He had to fight the urge do it himself.

"I-I, I made some special strawberry and rose macaroons for Valentine's Day, and I . . . I made them for Félix and . . ." She broke into another bout of sobs, but Adrien knew full well what had happened. She'd offered them and gave her love to Félix, only to be shot down. If only he could go over to Félix's house and beat him up, but he was taller than Adrien and Marinette wouldn't like them getting into a fight, especially over her. He draped his arm over her shoulders and let her cry it out. His instincts were screaming at him to embrace her and kiss away her tears, but that would be coming on too strong. He needed to remain calm and not let his love for her get in the way of making sure she was emotionally okay.

"I'm sorry," he told her, squeezing her shoulder. "You don't deserve that." If anything, that made her cry harder, her body doubling over. Adrien stayed beside her, hand rubbing her back soothingly. What else could he do? He wanted to hold her and let her cry on him, but obviously she didn't want an embrace right now. For once in his life, he was at a loss for words. Well, he wanted to trash talk Félix and tell Marinette she was too good for him, but he knew that's not what she needed. Right now, she just needed to cry it out and he would stay by her side. Minutes passed and her cries died down to sniffles. When she sat up, he could see her eyes were red with tears. Just how long had she been crying before he came by?

"Do you want them?" she asked in a hoarse voice, offering the tiny pink box to him. "I-I don't want them to go to waste."

"How about we share them?" he suggested. "We could back to my house and have some drinks and eat them."

It wasn't the Valentine's Day either of them expected. The day was spent snacking on macaroons and chocolate back at his house, watching sports anime and cracking jokes on his couch. They played video games, ran around his home like they were children again, they even did some rock climbing on his bedroom walls. His father and Nathalie even let her stay over for dinner. By the end of the night when Adrien dropped her off at her home, her earlier troubles with Félix had been forgotten and only the last few hours at the Agreste Mansion with Adrien in her head.

Sure, it wasn't what Adrien expected, but this was better than anything he had ever dreamt about and if he could, he would relive this day over and over again. Minus Marinette's pain, though. Maybe next year they'd have a Valentine's Day just as great as this one. Maybe. Right now, they both needed to take baby steps.


End file.
